SAfrica Gold Producers Make New Wage Offer

JOHANNESBURG — South African gold producers made a new wage offer to tens of thousands of striking miners in a bid to end work stoppages that have crippled production since Tuesday, a union said.

Members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) were discussing the offer, which was made late Wednesday.

"We received last night a revised offer from the Chamber of Mines," NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told AFP. "We are looking at it," he said, cautioning that "there are no guarantees this offer can be accepted. It's up to the members."

He declined to give further details.

NUM, which officially represents around 70,000 strikers, has demanded a 60-percent hike in basic wages as it battles to remain the dominant labor group in the gold sector, though Seshoka suggested earlier in the week they may review their demands.

"Wage negotiations should not necessarily result in strikes," she said in a statement on Thursday. "Even when a strike is called, at the end of the day the parties have to find a way [of] resolving the outstanding matters around the table."

Gold is a key industry for South Africa, bringing in around 10 percent of export earnings and accounting for three percent of Gross Domestic Product. The industry employs around 140,000 workers.

Strikes are common in the country's mid-year winter months, when wages are typically reviewed.

Tens of thousands of workers in various other sectors including the construction and automobile industries have also downed tools in recent weeks demanding higher pay.

South African economic firm Efficient Group, has predicted that industrial action could drag the country's economic growth from three percent registered in the second quarter, to below 1.5 percent before the end of the year.